The invention relates to a device for the handling of merchandise in dynamic warehousing systems.
In a dynamic type of warehousing system, items of merchandise, consisting generally of pallets or bins stacked or filled with cartons, boxes &c., do not occupy a permanent place; instead, one has a number of lines along which items are shunted one behind the next. Thus, each single line of the warehouse will carry a string of items positioned nose-to-tail along its length.
In certain systems, the lines are installed on a gradient in order that items of merchandise can gravitate nose-to-tail toward one end of the line, from which collection is made. In a `first-in last-out` system, where set-down and pick-up operations occur at one and the same end, the single line, and in effect the entire system, will be installed on a reverse gradient. In a `first-in first-out` type of system, the items are simply set down at one end of the line and picked up from the other.
In a first type of embodiment of conventional systems as referred to above, the line consists of rollers -i.e. of an ordinary roller conveyor, on which the pallet base is set down direct. Compared with other expedients, the roller conveyor provides the advantage of affording simple and economical adjustment of the speed at which items are propelled along the line, achieved mechanically by means of conventional brake rollers. Such an advantage is offset however, by the drawback of potential, and all-too-frequent jamming. A pallet base may be defective, or become splintered, such that one has a part or parts projecting from the moving item that can stick fast between the rollers and prevent its ongoing movement.
In another type of embodiment, the line consists in a length of track along which bogies can be rolled, the pallet in this instance being carried by the bogie. Such an expedient automatically overcomes the problem of jamming occasioned by defective pallets, though it has its attendant drawbacks, one of which is that propulsion speed of the bogies cannot be controlled simply and economically. What is more, the bogies, which are cumbersome, must be marshalled and parked in a space other than that occupied by the lines (a problem not encountered with rollers); at all events, simple logic dictates that the bogie be loaded outside the warehousing area in order that the items of merchandise can be rolled in. Further drawbacks are encountered at the collection stage, as the bogie must be either raised or tilted to effect a pick-up; one thus has the risk of a pallet load striking against that next in line, resulting in damage to the merchandise of one of the pallets, or perhaps both.
Accordingly, the object of the invention described herein is that of overcoming the drawbacks mentioned above.